The world of work is changing. Traditional degrees and careers that stem from them may become less valid in the workplace of the future. Instead, by 2030, young people might do well to consider working in one of the following fields:

Micro-energy traders

Much of our energy will be generated, transmitted and stored locally in the future. Interest will therefore grow in what will essentially be an "energy internet", where households and small businesses buy, sell and trade energy within their own local communities. For example, if you have an electric car, but you don't drive it very often, you could rent out its battery space to store energy for others on a temporary basis. Anyone with the necessary time and technical skills will therefore have the potential to become an energy trader.

Synthetic biologists

In the future we will grow energy or, more precisely, we will harvest algae that secrete bio-diesel. Synthetic biology, which is the next big thing that hardly anyone has heard of, is capable of this and a whole lot more. Of course, scientists in other countries are capable of exploiting new technologies too, but will they?

Sharia financiers

With Muslim populations expanding in Europe, one thing that we are likely to see is further growth of sharia, or Islamic finance: for example, sharia-compliant financial planning or sharia-compliant venture capital, where making money from money is forbidden. Given current suspicions about traditional British banking, we might also see the development of related forms of ethical banking, where bankers refuse to lend money for purely speculative purposes, preferring instead to lend to individuals or institutions that create or build things with inherent social value. Graduates flocking to get into the next generation of banking? It's not impossible.

Teachers

It may not sound very futuristic but if Europe is to compete with the likes of China and India it needs to become more competitive – and education is the key. You might expect education to be virtual by 2030, and parts of it will be, but a fully outsourced, automated, massively open, online future is unlikely to be the case, especially in early-years education where socialisation and empathy are key ingredients. Of course, the challenge here will be to persuade European governments to spend more money on education when their natural inclination will be to reduce their debt by spending less. Let's not forget also that Europe is ageing faster than any other continent, so there will be political pressure from voters to switch spending from children and young people to helping to care for the elderly population. We should resist the temptation.

Richard Watson is the author of Future Vision: Scenarios for the World in 2040